Originally published February 21 2006
Dr. Gupta examines the effects of coffee on the brain and body
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Dr. Sanjay Gupta devotes his CNN.com health page to recent studies of coffee and its stimulation of the brain.
Not exactly, researchers say, but studies show that it does give brain power a wake-up jolt.
"It allows you to use what brain power you have in a much more efficient and focused way," said Time magazine reporter Michael Lemonick, an avid coffee-drinker who's been looking at caffeine's effects on the brain for a recent article.
The drug -- it is a drug -- works by blocking the neurotransmitters that would normally calm the brain and cause a sleepy feeling.
Other stimulants work by increasing the amount of stimulating neurotransmitters in the brain.
Harris Lieberman, a research psychologist at the Military Nutrition Division of the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine, told Lemonick that intelligence "is an inherent trait," that isn't changed by caffeine.
He said caffeine tends to energize people and help them focus on boring and repetitive tasks, even if when they are well rested.
"When you're sleep-deprived and you take caffeine," Lieberman said, "pretty much anything you measure will improve: reaction time, vigilance, attention, logical reasoning -- most of the complex functions you associate with intelligence.
And most Americans are sleep-deprived most of the time."
Scientists at the Medical University in Innsbruck, Austria, found that men performed significantly better in short-term memory tests after being given a dose of caffeine equivalent to about two cups of coffee.
There have been concerns that drinking too much coffee could increase the risks of cancer or high blood pressure, but that has not been proven.
Lemonick said that there also is evidence that caffeine can protect against diseases such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's, as well as liver damage, gallstones and depression.
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